Oil spill reported at Ennore Port near Chennai

Coast Guard authorities told ET that patrolling vessels were despatched to the location to assess the damage.

The Indian Coast Guard despatched a Pollution Response Vessel from Visakhapatnam towards Ennore.

CHENNAI: A tanker named MT Coral Stars berthed at the Kamarajar Port in Ennore near Chennai suffered an oil spill in the early hours of Sunday, said authorities with the Indian Coast Guard and the port.

An official statement from the Kamarajar Port is expected by Sunday evening.

Coast Guard authorities told ET that patrolling vessels were despatched to the location to assess the damage. Authiorities said the spill happened at 5: 30 a.m. Sunday within the port limits in Ennore. The Indian Coast Guard has also despatched a Pollution Response Vessel from Visakhapatnam towards Ennore.

A Coast Guard official told ET that the spillage was under one tonne, adding, however, that a clear image of the extent of damage can be obtained through the evening on Sunday."We may get an exact estimate once the two ships we have sent there get back with information," said the official.

An official of the Port said top executives have arrived at the spot. "We should send out a statement on the incident by evening," the port official said.

In January 2017, a ship leaving the port collided with an inbound oil tanker named MT Dawn Kanchipuram. It led to a oil spill that spread across Chennai's coastline, washing up oil slick and dead turtles on the beaches along the southern city's coast. The Indian Coast Guard, in a press statement three days after the January 2017 spill, had said over 20 tonnes of oil had gone into the sea as against 2-3 tonnes in the intial reports. On February 3, 2017, the Indian Coast Guard had said "a total of 24 tonnes of oil sludge and 09 tonnes of water sludge was collected on 03 Feb 17."

Marine services experts said the usual procedure after an oil spill was to ring-fence the oil slick in sea and deploy a skimmer, which essentially sucks out the oil sludge layer off the surface of the sea.